Seattle Seafair Torchlight 8K Recap

Every year Seattle has an event called Seafair. It's a month-long, that brings an entire community together in celebration. They have a series of events & parades during Seafare.

Seattle's Best Happy Hour is the 8K & 5K fun run which has 3,700+ runners. The course goes along the famous parade route(that takes place right after the fun run) so there are thousands of spectators during the first 3 miles in the race. There's a pirate adventure costume contest (I didn't dress in costume), and a post race bash including a beer garden with live entertainment. The race is televised live on Seattle's local news channel :)

This race is a lot of fun to be in. Although it wasn't my best performance :/

Here are the following reasons why:

1. Ate junk food most of the day prior to the race. (And week prior, I'm living in a hotel at the moment waiting for military housing to be available)

2. Didn't hydrate at all through out the day. Had a killer headache before the race.

3. Overestimated myself and went into the 7/8 minute per mile group. I run 9 min miles.

4. Ran my fastest mile during the first mile!

5. Didn't preview the course. (NO ONE TOLD ME THERE WAS GOING TO BE HILLS) LOL

6. Only ran once within the two weeks prior to this event.

7. Did I mention I there were hills that I did not prepare for!!

8k Race Recap - - - - -

Time 48:21

Average Pace - 9:44

I placed 86 out of 227 in my age division (25-29F) & 1136 out of 2128 overall.

My Splits: Negative splits are good to have. There is a reason why they tell you to pace yourself in the beginning. Obviously I didn't do that. Lesson learned!!

Mile 1- 7:57 (This might even be a personal record for me per mile, I'll have to check)

Mile 2-8:41

Mile 3-9.07

Mile 4-10:41

Mile 5-11:27

Runners getting in place for the start.

MILE 1 - At the start of the race there was a bit of a decline. I am normally pretty good when it comes to pacing myself. During this race I overestimated myself and ran with the big dawgs. I jumped in with the 7 to 8 minute mile group when I normally run a 9 min mile. As we were running downhill I ran way to fast trying to hang with the other runners I started with. Right after we ran down a hill, we had to go up a damn hill. Oh boy I was not prepared for that. I ran my fastest mile during the FIRST mile. BIG MISTAKE. I tried to slow down but I just couldn't. I felt like I was in a groove I couldn't get out of.

MILE 2 - When mile 2 came I was surprised I was still running. I tried my best to pace myself when all I really wanted to do was walk! The junk food I've been eating the past month didn't help me either. I felt like I was running with a few added extra pounds. Oh, and we ran up another hill. It was just a slight incline but my legs were feeling it.

Mile 3 - I believe in the picture above is mile 3. This is when I took a short walking break. Up a head is another incline. Once I got over the incline I had to walk again.

Mile 4 - Some where up ahead is mile 4. At mile 4 I finally felt like my legs could move again! Then...

BAM!!! I hit a brick wall. I tried jogging up the hill but I walked, struggling for each step praying this would be the last hill. But...

Another hill happened. This would be the last hill and final stretch. Right up this hill is the finish line! OMG No one told me about the hills! Gosh, this was probably the hardest 5 miles I have ever run. I'm not use to hills. And I'm all signed up for Big Sur Marathon in April 2012 which has a bunch of rolling hills and 2 MILE CLIMB! LOL

The pictures below were taken by my husband. We didn't stay for the parade. My legs were DONE!

My cheerleaders!

Post Half Marathon- Running Stairs

"If training is hard, then winning will be easy, but if training is easy, then winning will be hard." -Norman Harris

Running stairs is a common training method used by athletes and people who want to lose wight fast. This high-intensity workout is a successful form of exercise because it quickly elevates your heart rate, involves your entire body, burns a lot calories and improves your body composition. Stair running is superb training for running. In addition to strengthening the muscles around the knees, stair running builds stamina and overall lower-body strength, works the gluteal muscles and quadriceps more than roadrunning and is a highly efficient workout in terms of the amount of timespent at very high intensity.The first reason that stairs are so effective is that going uphill (against gravity) will always force your body to work much harder and will increase your strength without even lifting weight. It’s no coincidence that many sports legends have used going up hill to take their conditioning to elite levels. Look no further than 7 times Tour De France Cycling Champion Lance Armstrong when it comes to hill training. Once he reached the hill stages in these races it was virtually over for the rest of the field. Credit this to his persistent training against gravity. The even greater thing about hill training is that the results are achieved in far less time than traditional training. A tough stair workout can take less than 15 minutes and yield the same results as an hour long workout. Which would you rather do?The second reason is because running up stairs is anaerobic and this has been shown anecdotally and scientifically to produce greater fat loss results in less time then traditional aerobic work. Aerobic (with oxygen) work simply means that your body utilizes oxygen to convert fat to energy. The problem is that the aerobic process is very slow and cannot generate energy quickly enough for higher intensity work like running fast or sprinting up stairs. That is why the anaerobic (without oxygen) energy system is used because this system can be called upon for quick energy and doesn’t require oxygen. The bottom line is anaerobic work will yield far greater results than aerobic work and you can just take a quick look at aerobic and anaerobic activities to convince yourself. Who would you rather look like?First we have marathoners who often look weak and string. And I’m even talking aboutnelite marathoners. Shouldn’t elite athletes have the best physiques? On the other hand you have sprinters which have amazing physiques and low body fat levels. You’ll never see an elite sprinter or even a high school sprinter with a weak and stringy body. The more ironic thing is that marathoners spend much more time training than sprinters. Which would you rather do? Work less and look better or work more and look worse. The only reason I’ve found for not including stair work or hill work into workouts are either you can’t find a good hill or stairs or they are just too brutal. Make no mistake these workouts are tough. But no one ever said getting in top condition was easy.

http://simplyfitnessgear.com/RunningStairs.pdf

Running Stairs Technique

•Step on every other step. This manner of running ensures proper stride frequency and speed of running

•Use your whole body. running and climbing are whole-body movements. Engage all your muscles – not just the legs.

•Use the quads. Climb stairs by pushing with your thighs. Make sure not to completely extend your legs – this puts too much strain on your knees. Instead, run by keeping your legs semi-flexed throughout.

•The role of the posterior chain. The muscles of the back of your legs – calves, hamstrings (back of your thighs) and glutes (your butt) are responsible for most of the movement that occurs in running and jumping. Don’t make the mistake to push through your knees only. Instead, try to use your posterior chain and extend your hips.

•Run on your toes. Just a quick note here – when running try to step on your toes or more specifically the place between your toes and your mid foot. That’s how all animals run – they step on their paws and on NOT their heels.

•Use your arms. Make sure to use your arms to help you with the movement. Keep your elbows in, shoulders down (not shrugged) and your arms semi-flexed (like a sprinter).

Suprisingly after Saturdays half marathon (12.2 miles) my legs were not sore at all! Only think though is I got these two extremely painful blisters under my toenails. I lost 4 toe nails last year. My goal is to NOT lose anymore. So instead of running I decide to run stairs near the parking garage and then on the bleachers at the football feild in California State University Sacramento. I use to run up these stairs and run on the track all the time in High School. Tonight I ran up and down the stairs about 15 times times.

SAC State has hosted a few of the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. I have seen some amazing athletes run on this track...Micheal Johnson, Maurice Green, Gale Devers and Marion Jones, I don't care what the reports say about her, she is still AMAZING!

Apology Letter

I recieved this in my email today regarding the half marathon I ran this last weekend that was 1 mile short. I understand mistakes happen, if I am in the area next year I will run in this event again :)

July 18, 2011

Dear Davis Moo-nlight Half Marathon participant -

First, we wish to thank you for joining our Foundation in what we felt was the perfect evening for a run or walk. We could not have asked for better weather or crowd of athletes.

Saturday night, as you know, the half marathon course was significantly off due to runners being mis-directed at an intersection that what we now feel should have been less confusing and better monitored. The wrong turn omitted runners from heading back to the finish line and completing mile six. Our sign ("1/2 Marathon to mile 7") was intended to direct runners after they passed by the finish and again though the ballfields. It is not my intent to offer an excuse, but to merely point out where the lost distance was. This mis-turn was clearly quite costly and was an unfortunate, and obvious mistake made on our part.

We are all runners too, and all share your passion for fitness and running in well organized events. We have received your e-mails and read your posts on facebook and are aware that many runners are disappointed and frustrated. We can only offer our most sincere apologies, a promise to improve and an immediate solution to the problem at hand.

Please know that we realize the commitment, energy, money and time involved in the decision to run a half marathon, and from a runner's perspective can only imagine your dissatisfaction.

While we can't fix what happened, we can say that this will most definitely not happen again. Along with our deepest, most genuine apology, we would like to offer you compensation towards a future event. We will be sending you a voucher that may be used as a half-off coupon to any of our upcoming events taking place in next 12 months, OR as a $30.00 (75%) discount towards pre-registration to the Moonlight Half Marathon in 2012.

As a non-profit organization with goals to provide free elementary school fitness programs with event proceeds, this offer is not a decision made lightly, but given the circumstances and a mistake on our end we feel it is the "right" thing to do.

Please allow us a second chance and the opportunity to provide you with a less confusing 13.1 mile course next year. In the meantime, we wish you the best with your athletic endeavors.

Sincerely,

Dave Miramontes

Executive Director

A Change of Pace Foundation

The Half Marathon A Mile SHORT!!

My timed goal for the Davis Moo-nlight Half Marathon was 2 hours. When I crossed the finish line to see my time as 1:56:32 I was ecstatic because I THOUGHT I had set a PR. WRONG!! I remember looking at my Garmin several times during my run and noticed it didn't match up with the last few mile markers on the course. I really didn't think any thing of it at first, I just followed the rest of the runners and figured my Garmin was inaccurate. When I got home I checked the organizations Face Book page to find out that the course was indeed a mile short. Apparently around mile 7 we missed a turn or something. Many unhappy runners are blowing up the organizers Face Book page waiting for an apology.

Although I am little disappointed that I didn't complete a half marathon nor did I actually beat my timed goal but overall I had a good run :)

Race Recap:

Overall I placed 377 out of 949 people.

In my age group I placed 32nd out of 112.

Since the race was a night time race @ 7 PM, I tried to drink plenty of water during the day but stopped drinking around 5 pm. For lunch I had pasta salad, for dinner; 2 hours before the race I had a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter. About an hour before I sipped on some cytomax and chewed down some shot blocks. I tried not to drink too much cause I didn't want to stop and have to use the potty during my run. My other concern was having to go number 2! Ughhh a runners nightmare. In the begining of the race I felt great! I tried my best to pace myself and not worry about other runners. I carried a pace band but never looked at it :/ I'm still learning how to use my Garmin 405! After mile 6 or 7 I took Gatorade and water from the stations. I hate drinking water early on in a race or else I end up needing to use the restroom. Around mile 8 I was a little dehydrated and I could tell a number 2 was on it's way. I tried my best to hold it in cause I did not want to stop. (This course also lacked port-a-potties) I kept on going but slowed down a bit, at this point my legs were hurting! Around mile 10 I finally came to a water station that handed out sport jelly beans. 10 - 15 minutes after eating those I felt a burst of energy and was able to pick up the pace. Once I heard the announcer I sprinted for the finish line. I wonder what my time would of been if it were a FULL half marathon?

Me and my friend Carolyn. This was her first half marathon :)

My daughter Marissa, niece Lexi and nephew Caleb who all ran in the Kids 1 mile.

1 Mile finisher!!

Half Marathon (12.2miles) Finishers!!